One of the most enduring types of exercise equipment is the exercise bicycle. As with other exercise equipment, the exercise bicycle and its use are continually evolving. Early exercise bicycles were primarily designed for daily in home use and adapted to provide the user with a riding experience similar to riding a bicycle in a seated position. These early exercise bicycles extensively used cylindrical tubing for nearly all components of the frame. In many examples, early exercise bicycles include a pair of pedals to drive a single front wheel. To provide resistance, early exercise bicycles and some modern exercise bicycles were equipped with a brake pad assembly operably connected with a bicycle type front wheel so that a rider can increase or decrease the pedaling resistance by tightening or loosening the brake pad engagement with the rim of the front wheel.
As exercise bicycles became increasingly popular in health clubs, the need for greater durability than is provided by cylindrical tubing emerged as many riders used the exercise bicycle throughout the day and night. Moreover, whether in health clubs or at home, the use and features provided by exercise bicycles evolved as many riders sought to achieve an exercise bicycle riding experience more similar to actual riding, which often includes pedaling up-hill, standing to pedal, and the like. One point in the evolution of the exercise bicycle is the replacement or substitution of the standard bicycle front wheel with a flywheel. The addition of the flywheel, which is oftentimes quite heavy, provides the rider with a riding experience more similar to riding a bicycle because a spinning flywheel has inertia similar to the inertia of a rolling bicycle tire.
Another point in the evolution of the use of the exercise bicycle is in group riding programs at health clubs, where transition between various different types of riding is popular, such as riding at high revolutions per minute (RPM), low RPM, changing the resistance of the flywheel, standing up to pedal, leaning forward, and various combinations of these types of riding. This evolution of the use of the exercise bicycle also brought about more demand for sturdy and durable exercise bicycles.
To meet the need for sturdier exercise bicycles that would stand up to continuous use throughout the day, that would support a heavy rapidly rotating flywheel, and that would stand up to group type exercise programs, exercise bicycles began being designed with square or box-beam type tubing, which in some instances is more durable and sturdy than cylindrical tubing. One drawback of box-beam type tubing is that it provides little flexibility in designing an aesthetically pleasing exercise bicycle.
Another drawback of exercise bicycles made with box-beam type tubing is that they are heavy and difficult to move. In some health clubs and in many homes, space is limited and is oftentimes used for many different purposes. For example, a room in a health club may be used for aerobics one hour and then used by a group of people all riding exercise bicycles the next hour, which requires that the exercise bicycles be moved around within or in and out of the room.
In addition to demand for durable sturdy exercise bicycles, riders desire exercise bicycles that can be adapted to fit a particular riders size. To meet this need, exercise bicycles with adjustable seats, adjustable handlebars, and the like have been designed. In some conventional exercise bicycles, box beam type posts and tubes are used for the seat and the handlebar in adjustable configurations. Typically, box beam tubing has as a square or rectangular cross section and therefore has four walls, with about 90 degree angles between the walls. For example, a square seat tube will receive a square seat post with a seat in an adjustable configuration which allows the seat post to be set within the seat tube at a variety of different heights.
One drawback of using box beam tubing in adjustable handlebar assemblies and seat assemblies is that oftentimes no walls are positively engaged or only one wall of the tube will engage one wall of the post. To move within the tube, the post must fit within the tube relatively loosely. To fix the post within the tube at a particular position, such as adjusting the height of the seat post or the height of the handlebar stem, oftentimes a pin will be inserted through an aperture in the tube to engage a corresponding aperture in the post. In such an arrangement, the seat, the handlebar, or both will oftentimes have a fairly loose feeling and might wobble noticeably during riding. In some instances, an additional device might force the rear wall of the post against the rear wall of the tube resulting in one wall of the post engaging one wall of the tube. In such an arrangement, wobbling and the feeling of unsteadiness might be reduced, but oftentimes is not eliminated. Besides having a feeling of unsteadiness, such movement between the post and the tube can result in metal on metal squeaking and can also cause wear and tear on the components.
It is with this background in mind that the present invention was developed.